Compositions having pearlescent or pearl-like appearance are widely known in the art. Not only cosmetic and personal care compositions, but also detergent and fabric treatment compositions are sometimes imparted with pearlescent aesthetics so as to render the resulting compositions more attractive, valuable and rich-like to the consumers. Typically, such compositions are provided with the desired pearlescence by the introduction of pearlescent additives which can e.g. take the form of pearlescent particles (WO 2007/100669), pearlizing waxes (EP-B1-0181773), pearlizing concentrates (WO 2004/014321) or pearlizing dispersions (EP-A2-0581193). The requirement to incorporate pearlescent additives may undesirably increase formulation complexity and lead to substantial additional costs for the overall product formulation. Additionally, the introduction of those additives may sometimes adversely affect the stability of the resulting formulations due to incompatibility with other ingredients, and may cause losses of performance.
Notwithstanding the benefits and advantages associated with the pearlescent compositions disclosed in the art, there is still a need for liquid pearlescent compositions having improved formulation simplicity and flexibility, and which overcome the drawbacks associated with the known pearlescent compositions.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide liquid pearlescent compositions possessing improved formulation simplicity and flexibility, while providing unaffected stability upon storage. It has now been found that the above objective can be met by providing compositions according to the present invention.
Advantageously, the compositions according to the present invention may be processed under very low thermal energy requirements, which can be shown by low water temperature. A further advantage associated with the compositions according to the present invention is that they may take the form of creamy, rich-like compositions provided with excellent and durable viscosity characteristics. It is still a further advantage that the compositions according to the present invention provide excellent dispensability and dispersibility properties.
Other advantages and more specific properties of the method according to the present invention will be clear after reading the following description of the invention.